St. Paul man charged in mother's death

The son of a woman found dead this week in a St. Paul house was charged Friday with strangling his mother and setting the duplex where she lived on fire. Michael Ray Caldwell, 20, of St. Paul, was charged with second-degree murder Lorine Mary Johnson, 49, after he confessed to the murder while undergoing a psychological evaluation at United Hospital.

The son of a woman found dead this week in a St. Paul house was charged Friday with strangling his mother and setting the duplex where she lived on fire. Michael Ray Caldwell, 20, of St. Paul, was charged with second-degree murder Lorine Mary Johnson, 49, after he confessed to the murder while undergoing a psychological evaluation at United Hospital.

A 17-year-old boy from Sauk Rapids was charged Tuesday in connection to the death of Mankato state student Colton Gleason. The St. Cloud Times reports Jesse Jean Smithers is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault.

The Ramsey County Attorney's office Friday charged a 50-year-old St. Paul man with one count of criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the death of 16-year-old Clarisse Grime of St. Paul. Carlos Viveros-Colorado is accused of striking Grime with his SUV Thursday while she was sitting on a shady patch of grass.

A 23-year-old St. Paul woman has been charged with assaulting a 57-year-old man with Parkinson's disease after she allegedly hit him with a brick after he declined her prostitution offer, a criminal complaint said Friday. The Ramsey County Attorney's Office charged Davina Nicole Marie Rulford with second- and third-degree assault in the alleged incident.

A St. Paul man pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree assault and second-degree murder in a 2011 case where he stabbed out the eyes of his wife, and then stabbed to death a man he alleged to be her lover. Prosecutors will be seeking a prison sentence of at least 39 years for Pah Ber, 49, when he is sentenced Aug. 31.